bonedog569
554 posts
Jul 03, 2012
1:13 PM
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It's geting hard to make it into the music room anymore - the amp bargains are blocking the door! - Not quite, but I will be 'thinning the heard' soon - or so I say.
My first 59 Bassman - unlaquered tweed in great shape. It must have been a transition year because its not a LTD but has the Jensen's - It has ply not solid, and the ss rectifier plug . It looks new and at $450 - I'm not complaing.
Put in a tube rectifier, 12ay #1 and 12at#2 , set it up as Deak suggests, - and it's singing pretty darn sweetly.
I've read over some of the older Bassman thread - but I'm open to any advice on the amp anyone'd care to give.
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Last Edited by on Jul 03, 2012 1:39 PM
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Joe_L
1912 posts
Jul 03, 2012
1:28 PM
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I was thinking of picking that up. I'm glad you did.
You changed the tubes. Just play it for a while and see if it really needs anything.
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bonedog569
556 posts
Jul 03, 2012
1:39 PM
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Thanks Joe. Where are you - the east bay? Im in SF. You are welcome to come by and blow through it - and any other of my amps. From your post if I recall - you have some nice one's too.
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1847
49 posts
Jul 03, 2012
1:48 PM
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if i remember correctly
the tube chart
will have a date of manufacture
they started with A1
as i recall
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1847
50 posts
Jul 03, 2012
1:52 PM
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All Fender amplifiers, manufactured after 1989 include a date code on the amplifier.
This code is located on the "QA" (Quality Assurance) sticker, which may be found on the back of the amp chassis. The sticker is a Black and Silver label, which contains several lines for "sign-offs" at the completion of sound and electrical tests, where applicable. The last line will have 2 letters of the alphabet either printed or written by hand. Good luck reading some of the hand written ones. These letters are the production date code for the amplifier. The first letter refers to the year, and the second letter refers to the month of manufacture. The codes are:
1990-A 1991-B 1992-C 1993-D 1994-E 1995-F 1996-G 1997-H 1998-I
1999-J 2000-K 2001-L 2002-M 2003-N 2004-O 2005-P 2006-
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5F6H
1254 posts
Jul 03, 2012
3:19 PM
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After selecting the preamp tubes you prefer (maybe a rectifier sub too with the stock circuit), a bias pot install is a good move. Beyond that, it isn't worth doing much to it until you replace the SICA Jensens as they are the weak link. Jim Rossen suggested bypassing V1's normal channel plate resistor (connects to pin 1) with a <1000pf cap to tame the brightness with SICA Jensens.
After that I'd sub R39 with a 82K 3W...and you're just about done & heading into testing the laws of diminishing returns ;-)
They stuck Jensens in them for a few years before the LTDs came along.
Year is nice to know but pretty well irrelevant. First were the green PCB models with additional secondary fuses, first ones had leather handles. Then the cream PCBs, primary fuse only, revision to voltage handling for bias circuit e-caps. Then the Jensens were introduced, at some point the tube "cage" was added. Then they went LTD (lost the SS puck rectifier, gained a bias pot & pine cab).
Congratulations, you have a great amp...well, another one :-)
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bonedog569
565 posts
Jul 12, 2012
7:38 PM
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Put Jensens on variac at 7.3 vac for a bunch of hours after swabbing the outer ribs with acetone. Less nasaly, less wooly. Looser bass ?? A little I think. Also swapped in TAD 6l6's that impoved things quite a bit over the stock sovteks. All together sweeter. Spent hours with it last night intoxicated with the tone. More tonight.
Variable bias kit is on order from Kendrick. I'll do R39 as suggested when that comes in too. Gonna Shellack the tweed too. Looked at a lot of threads and pic.s on this subject but any suggestions on 'laquering' still appreciated.
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MP
2343 posts
Jul 13, 2012
12:19 PM
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great amp for playing outdoor gigs. just used one at a polo match gig with serious wind coming off the ocean.
we're talking tone sucking wind. good buy!
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MP
affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
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Rick Davis
510 posts
Jul 13, 2012
12:29 PM
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Use MinWax Polyshades Satin Classic Oak. You can find it at The Home Depot.
Blue Harp Amps Blog article
1991 Fender Bassman RI
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-Rick Davis
Last Edited by on Jul 13, 2012 1:08 PM
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